Netiquette Anthropology: a Tale of Tech Geekers

(A Net Ethology / A Troll's Confection)

When a person's sanity is at balance,
when human passion is raging,
no etiquette must get in the way.
—Xah Lee, 2001.

The internet has changed society deeply. It has indirectly changed nations, catapulted sciences, deeply imbued the daily lives of men, and as well affected writings and have created a culture one of a kind, among which is FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), Netiquette, and Trolling. Netiquette refers to Net Etiquette. It is the implicit rules in online communities, widely purveyed in the early days of internet (pre-1997) but faded quietly with the mainstreaming of internet. Troll roughly refers to someone who posts a message that solicit outwardly or indirectly a huge usually chaotic following. In these pages, are collected essays on these phenomena.

I as a troll is rather special because i tend to put a final say on things, in contrast with one-liner trolls i myself despise. (In a sense i'm an anti-troll, untroll, or an atrocious atroll.) At first i balked at being branded a troll. Now i revel it. I as a troll is rather recent, beginning and getting worse about in 1998. I have been using online forums since 1990. Perhaps one day i'll write “how i became a troll”. It is bound to be a tragedy. —Xah Lee, 2002.

I'll find a day to massacre them all, And raze their faction and their family… —William Shakespeare, in Titus Andronicus

i will build a dam, when there is a pussy flood.
for i am a collector of nature, and a lover of its treasure.
i will use my savings, to quench those thirsty, and lubricate those angry,
for i have suffered and suffered; the pain and anguish.
—Xah Lee, 2002.